Pakistan’s Strategic Culture and its Gordian Knot in Afghanistan

dc.contributor.authorParkes, Aidan
dc.date.accessioned2020-01-07T03:59:54Z
dc.date.issued2019-12-30
dc.description.abstractA paradoxical element of Pakistan’s grand strategy exists in its approach to Afghanistan. Pakistan’s instrumentalisation of Islamist groups such as the Taliban has historically been the principal strategic method employed by the military to minimise Indian influence in Afghanistan. However, this strategy risks jeopardising Pakistan’s strategic partnership with China, which is another method used by Pakistan to counterbalance India. Beijing’s growing strategic interests in the region require stability in South Asia, whereas Pakistan’s strategic method in Afghanistan indicates a preference for instability. The destabilising effect of Pakistan’s support for Islamist groups, and China’s desire for political and economic stability in South Asia, indicate latent divergent interests in the Sino-Pakistan strategic partnership. Therefore, this study factors China as a looming constraint on Pakistan’s Afghanistan policy. This study also examines the psychological and strategic factors underpinning Pakistan’s support for Islamist groups in Afghanistan, and the strategic constraints on this policy. Advancing the notion of a ‘strategic culture’ in Pakistan’s military, this study canvasses the concept as an epiphenomenal explanatory factor of its Afghanistan policy, and more instructively, as a factor of strategic inflexibility.en_AU
dc.format.mimetypeapplication/pdfen_AU
dc.identifier.issn2347-7970en_AU
dc.identifier.urihttp://hdl.handle.net/1885/196559
dc.language.isoen_AUen_AU
dc.publisherSageen_AU
dc.rights© the Author(s) 2019en_AU
dc.sourceJournal of Asian Security and International Affairsen_AU
dc.subjectAfghanistanen_AU
dc.subjectPakistanen_AU
dc.subjectSecurityen_AU
dc.subjectChinaen_AU
dc.subjectStrategyen_AU
dc.titlePakistan’s Strategic Culture and its Gordian Knot in Afghanistanen_AU
dc.typeJournal articleen_AU
local.bibliographicCitation.issue3en_AU
local.bibliographicCitation.lastpage274en_AU
local.bibliographicCitation.startpage254en_AU
local.contributor.affiliationParkes, A., Centre for Arab and Islamic Studies, The Australian National Universityen_AU
local.contributor.authoremailaidan.parkes@anu.edu.auen_AU
local.contributor.authoruidu5826971en_AU
local.description.embargo2037-12-31
local.identifier.citationvolume6en_AU
local.identifier.doi10.1177/2347797019885728en_AU
local.identifier.doi10.25911/5e145056e79ed
local.identifier.uidSubmittedByu5826971en_AU
local.publisher.urlhttps://journals.sagepub.com/en_AU
local.type.statusPublished Versionen_AU

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